The Telly Awards were founded in 1979 and is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and online commercials, video and films.

“The Telly Awards has a mission to honor the very best in film and video,” said Linda Day, Executive Director of the Telly Awards. “G Adventures’accomplishment illustrates their creativity, skill, and dedication to their craft and serves as a testament to great film and video production.”

The one-minute, 30-second “Earth” spot, which introduced the YNFI campaign to the world, received a bronze award for “Internet/Online Video” in the Travel/Tourism division, as well as a pair of copywriting bronze awards in the overall “Internet/Online Commercial” and “Internet/Online Video” categories. Winners of the 33rd annual Telly Awards were selected by a panel of 500 accomplished industry professionals and drawn from a pool of 11,000 entries from five continents.

“We are humbled by the awards we have received. The campaign’s original intention was tohighlight the growing interest travelers have in seeking more meaningful and memorable experiences that go beyond all-inclusive resorts and big bus tours,” says Jaymie Bachiu, G Adventures’ Global Brand Manager. “Today’s travelers want to connect with the people and places they visit and clearly our You’ll Never Forget It campaign resonated with both travelers and travel agents.”

The YNFIcampaign invited travelers to submit their unforgettable travel moments in the form of stories, images and videos. From more than 1000 entries, from 6 continents, 20 finalists were identified and asked to create a 30-second video defining what makes them a traveller not a tourist. Three winning submissions were selected to grace the covers of G Adventures’ 2013 brochures. The YNFI campaign drove more than 100,000 votes over the course of the campaign and contributed to G Adventures’ nearly 270k Facebook likes and 43k Twitter followers as well as hundreds of thousands of website visitors.

Soon after receiving the Telly Awards, the tour operator was also recognized at the 2012 Internet Advertising Competition. The same “Earth” video earned the award for “Best Travel Online Video”.